


White Chocolate Strawberries

by blacklightivy



Series: Night Queen [1]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Female Kurosaki Ichigo, Gender or Sex Swap, Rule 63
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29787921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blacklightivy/pseuds/blacklightivy
Summary: A female Kurosaki Ichigo takes a different path than a male would have, and it's not only Rukia who first meets her. Ichigo meets two Shinigami that first night - and the other is Hinamori Momo. Together, the three of them start on a journey with the power to change everything.The entire series, rewritten. Floating Timeline. Tagged pairings are the final pairings for the whole series.Posted in sections.
Relationships: Aizen Sousuke/Kurosaki Ichigo, Grimmjow Jaegerjaques/Kurosaki Ichigo, Hitsugaya Toushirou/Kurosaki Ichigo, Ichimaru Gin/Kurosaki Ichigo, Kuchiki Byakuya/Kurosaki Ichigo, Ulquiorra Cifer/Kurosaki Ichigo
Series: Night Queen [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189550
Kudos: 24





	1. Everything's Fine

Chapter One: Everything's Fine

"Come on, little girlie. Pretty little high school aged thing like you? You don't want to do this."

A teenage girl in a high school uniform stood in a Tokyo city alleyway surrounded by four street thugs. Her book bag was slung sideways across her body. She was tall and slim, statuesque, with messy bedhead curls of orange hair tied back behind her head in a hair clip. Her skin was striking gold, her cheekbones high, her bone structure fine, her almond-shaped amber-brown eyes flashing. She had been told she looked a great deal like her mother, Masaki, a beauty.

"Now, you got a little attitude problem, you want me to set you straight?" the lead thug leered.

"I'd love to set her straight!" another hooted. "Look at those long, wraparound legs!" He let out a whistle.

"Take a good, long look, pal," said Kurosaki Ichigo, her eyes narrowing. "Because they ain't never wrapping around you."

"Ooh!" The thugs hooted and hollered.

"See, that's what I mean," the lead thug breathed, stepping forward. "Attitude problem. You come here to this alleyway, stomp Lil' Yama in the face, and order us out like we was dogs?" A fifth thug lay off to the side, unconscious, face bloody and smashed in, skateboard overturned next to him. "Now if you don't start actin' a little more feminine and politer, I may be forced into doing something I don't wanna do. Huh? Why aren't you sayin' anything? Speak up!"

There was a long, ringing silence. Ichigo glared, jaw clenched.

"I said say something, you little _bitch —!"_ the thug slurred and spat, waving a hand to backhand her across the face.

Ichigo's hand snapped into the air and caught his wrist.

"You made one mistake," she said, smirking.

"And what's that?"

"One of my best friends is the head of the karate club at my high school. And I have a black belt," said Ichigo.

"What the —?"

And then her leg flung itself right up and kicked his chin up so high his head snapped back. He stumbled back from the blow. She punched him in the nose so hard there was a crack of breaking bone and a flow of blood. She kicked him across the stomach and he actually lifted upward off of his feet and into the air, flying across the alleyway, rolling over and over, and then lying still.

 _"Christ,"_ one of the remaining thugs hissed in terror. "That's Lil' Toshi _out."_

"This girl's one of those Yankee chicks," said another, backing up. "One of those freaky female gangsters."

 _"Did I say you could talk?!"_ Ichigo demanded, whirling around to face them.

"No, ma'am!" They all stood straight at instinctive attention.

"Thank you. I did not. I would like to turn the jury's attention to exhibit A. _It means look over there, morons!"_ she snapped when they just stared blankly.

Lying off to the side of the alleyway was an old milk bottle, smashed and turned over onto its side, broken into about a hundred pieces. Water leaked out of the milk bottle, ruining the bedraggled flower petals of the white daises inside.

"Question One: What is that? You, the guy I can smell from all the way over here! You tell me," said Ichigo, pointing.

"It's, uh… it's an offering for the little kid who died here last week?" said the thug brightly, like he'd actually be free to go because _he'd gotten it right._

"Check out the brain on Smelly!" Ichigo snarled, kicking the guy across the face and knocking him out in a single blow.

"Lil' Mitch!" his two fellows hollered in alarm.

"Question Two: Why is the vase knocked over and broken?" said Ichigo, deceptively quietly.

"Because… we knocked it over…" they muttered, shuffling their feet. "Skateboarding…?"

"Is that so?" said Ichigo thoughtfully. And then she tilted her head, eyes widening eerily, face falling strangely expressionless. "Then shouldn't you apologize… to her…?" She waved beside her — and faintly, in the fading light of twilight, beside her appeared the ghost of a floating little dead girl. The little girl looked about ten, had pigtails, and had an eye missing and blood running all down the side of her face.

The thugs screamed like little girls. The ghost disappeared, but that was all the incentive they needed. "We're sorry!" they called, looking around as if to the spirits above in utter terror. "We're very sorry!"

And they fled the alleyway.

Ichigo brightened, pleased. "Told you the horror movie aesthetic would be what finally did the trick! I think one of them actually pissed themselves. Doubt they'll come back here again. Sorry for using you like that, by the way."

"It's okay." The girl shrugged, visible now only to Ichigo. "I asked you to get rid of them. I was glad to help. Thanks. That's all I needed."

"I'll bring fresh flowers soon, okay?" said Ichigo as she turned away.

"Okay. Thank you. Now I can rest peacefully," said the little girl formally, bowing slightly.

"No problem." Ichigo waved casually as she walked away. "Yeah, you rest in peace."

As she walked home through the nighttime city streets of Karakura, Tokyo, Ichigo put her headphones on and turned to her mp3 player. She turned to the Taylor Swift section of her player and toggled between her current favorite songs, "'tis the damn season" and "the last great american dynasty."

_So I'll go back to LA, and the so-called friends who'll write books about me if I ever make it, and wonder about the only soul who can tell which smiles I'm faking. And the heart I know I'm breaking is my own — to leave the warmest bed I've ever known._

_And they said, there goes the last great American dynasty. Who knows, if she never showed up, what could have been? There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen. She had a marvelous time ruining everything._

She finished on "peace," just on a whim:

_But I'm a fire and I'll keep your brittle heart warm if your cascade ocean wave blues come. All these people think love's for show, but I would die for you in secret. The devil's in the details, but you've got a friend in me. Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?_

She walked up to a small hospital clinic in a neat suburban area — not wealthy, but well to do. The clinic took up the front part of the bottom floor, while the family lived in the back part of the bottom floor and had the entire top floor to themselves. Ichigo walked around the back, took off her shoes, and walked through the back door with her book bag.

"Thanks for making dinner, Yuzu," she called, immediately smelling cooking food as she walked in.

"No problem. Thanks for leaving something for us. This spicy soup and dumplings is delicious," said preteen Yuzu, swinging her legs from the Western-style kitchen table.

"You know, Ichigo," said Dad conversationally from the dinner table, "you could actually tell your family when you're going to be home late. I always find that's a nice little gesture. Really adds something to the relationship between a single father and his daughter. I'm just, you know, spitballing, but —,"

"It's only —!" Ichigo whirled around to check the clock. "7:30," she finished, deadpan, deflating. "Sorry," she moaned, throwing off her book bag and grabbing dinner to warm it up in the microwave. "I had another ghost."

"You could have been dead."

"I know, Dad, but —,"

"Literally. In a ditch somewhere."

"I would immediately have come home and Karin or Yuzu would have seen me!" said Ichigo triumphantly.

"Very comforting," Dad muttered into his soup. "I'd have to have a seance through one of my preteen daughters. Great."

"Who'd you help?" said Karin, Yuzu's fraternal twin.

"That poor little girl who was shot in the face last week in that back alley," said Ichigo.

"Oh, look, another reason to be home early!" said Dad to no one in particular.

"Some punks were bothering her resting place," Ichigo finished as she got her dinner out of the microwave.

"How many were there?" said Karin.

"Five."

"And in what condition are they?" Karin grinned. This was one of her favorite questions.

"Three have smashed in faces. Two peed themselves," said Ichigo, deadpan, sitting down to eat dinner at the kitchen table.

Karin snickered. "I love having you as an older sister. Classic."

"You said you've been seeing more of them lately," said Yuzu in concern.

"Yeah," Ichigo admitted as she tucked in.

"Really?" said Dad, looking concerned.

"Well, yeah." Ichigo shrugged, chewing. "And I don't know if I'm seeing them more clearly, or if more people are dying, and I can't decide which idea disturbs me more."

"You always have been the Queen of Seeing," Karin admitted. "I'm way behind you in terms of ability, and then Yuzu's behind me. Must be tough, being in such high demand."

"But you know, we're bound to be a little envious of you, Ichigo," said Yuzu matter of factly. "They're just blurry, buzzy-sounding shapes to me. I'd love to be able to see one clearly."

"Not me," declared Karin. "I don't believe in ghosts."

"Hate to point this out to you, Karin," said Ichigo, puzzled, "but you were just talking to me about the fact that we both can see them."

"I'm in a state of permanent denial," said Karin. "If I refuse to believe in them, it's like they don't exist."

"Neat," said Ichigo.

"You're sure I can't set you up as a psychic medium at a park somewhere —," Karin began pleadingly.

"No," said Ichigo.

"We'd make tons of cash."

"No."

"She was really hoping for last month," said Yuzu wisely. "Cherry blossom viewing."

"Cherry blossoms and ghosts?" said Ichigo skeptically.

"Why not?" Karin challenged. "Your name means strawberry. Technically, you're strawberries and ghosts. Your profile picture on social media is literally of a bunch of strawberries dipped in white chocolate and painted with little faces!"

"And it's only funny," said Ichigo heatedly, "because no one knows what it means."

"It's not even funny then," said Yuzu informatively.

"Thanks. And, hey, I didn't share my social media with you guys! That is for my punk bands, my classical novel obsessions, my old movies, and my friends, and absolutely nothing else!" said Ichigo indignantly.

"Whatever you say, Ichigo," said Karin, smirking. "By the way, that post Inoue Orihime shared with you about Cancer Suns was really good."

"Christ," Ichigo sat back. "I'm done. I'm going to my room."

Yuzu and Karin turned instinctively to Dad, who shrugged. "What? I actually didn't do it this time."

"I'm glad you're so happy about Taylor Swift's newest album!" Karin called mockingly after Ichigo as she disappeared up the staircase. Ichigo flipped them off. Karin laughed, Yuzu sighed, and Dad just looked bewildered.

There was a pendant on Ichigo's bedroom door that had the number 15 on it. ("Ichi" and "go" meant "one" and "five" in Japanese.) She slammed the bedroom door so hard it rattled and threw down her book bag, yawning.

The bedroom around her was coated in artsy walls covered in vivid paint colors, chalkboards, whiteboards, drawings, long paragraphs of writing, poetry quotes, and hand-made paintings and drawings. There was an entire wall dedicated to all her musical loves and interests, from hung records to band posters to vast hand-made wooden shelves dedicated to displaying all her favorite albums. The dark academia influences took the form of dark undertones, antique pieces, old globes, massive maps, and countless bookshelves.

"Why is my family so weird?" Ichigo muttered to herself, walking across the bedroom — and then pausing, blinking in confusion, as two black swallowtail butterflies fluttered right past her head. "Now where did you two come from —?"

And then two teenage girls appeared, floating, right inside her bedroom.

The weirdest part? They definitely weren't ghosts. Ghosts were transparent. Ghosts had chains hanging from their chests. Ghosts had obvious signs of death.

These just looked like people. Floating people.

Both teenage girls were dressed in black samurai gear with white trim, and each had a katana sword strapped to her waist — those were illegal, by the way. One girl had a round, sweet face and wide liquid dark eyes, her chocolate brown hair tied back in a complex lacy white bun arrangement behind her head. The other girl had a pale, carved face and soft violet eyes, her inky dark hair almost shoulder-length, shining in soft waves. Both were petite, both were reserved, and both carried themselves with a regal air.

They touched down on the floor. "It has to be close, Kuchiki," the bun said to the violet eyes. "It was right here a second ago."

"Of course, Vice Captain Hinamori," said Kuchiki.

They were both pretending Ichigo wasn't just standing right there. Well that wouldn't do.

Ichigo announced her presence by kicking each of them in the back, straight across the room, and snapping, "I'll show you who's even closer!"

That was how it started.

-

"What the hell is with you two?!" Ichigo snapped at the two samurai girls, who were lying there, gaping at her. "You just come in here, like this isn't my room, like you're not invading my space?! And you act like I'm not even here?! What kind of a home invader does that?! Whatever happened to home privacy?! You're some pretty damn cocky burglars considering you collectively reach my chest level! I mean, I at least expected you to pick a fight, this is just insulting! And what the hell is close?! The safe?! Are you using some kind of weird burglar code I'm not aware of?! It was here just a second ago?! Have you been spying on our house?! You can't just mind your own fucking business?!"

"My God." Kuchiki sat up. "She can _see_ us."

"She touched us," said Hinamori as if in shock, sitting up and staring at her hands. "And the only reason she would be shouting at us like that… would be if she could see us like ordinary people, without trying… which would mean she had untold levels of…"

The two stared at each other in silence.

"I don't like all this communicating shit I don't understand," Ichigo decided, staring between the two. "What, am I not _supposed_ to be able to see you and touch you —?"

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened. "Not for nothing, Ichigo," said Dad conversationally, leaning in the doorway, "but even you're usually quiet up here. Anything you want to talk about?"

"Yeah. We have house intruders," Ichigo snapped. "Look at this!" She pointed at Kuchiki and Hinamori. "What the hell happened to our home security system? The minute a stranger enters this house at night, it's supposed to go off!"

"… Look at who?" said Dad, and his next words made Ichigo go cold. He stared blankly at the spot where Kuchiki and Hinamori were slowly standing to their feet. And then he said: "There's no one there."

"It is no use. Normal people cannot see us — or touch us," said Kuchiki gravely.

Ichigo turned to stare at them.

"The home security system wouldn't work on us either," said Hinamori, looking both kind and pitying.

"… Why not?" Ichigo said slowly.

"Because we don't have bodies," said Hinamori cheerfully. "We're spirits."

"More specifically," said Kuchiki, "we are what you call Shinigami. I believe the Western part of your world calls us Soul Reapers?"

Ichigo stared at them.

"… Dad," she said at last. "Forget it. Just a weird-looking ghost. You can go."

"… You're sure everything's okay?"

She turned back to find her father staring at her piercingly. Ichigo smiled cheerfully.

"I'm sure," she lied. "Everything's fine."

So he left. Ichigo turned to the two and glared flatly.

"This is the part where you explain," she said.

-

"So let me get this straight," Ichigo said.

They were all sitting cross-legged in a circle on her bedroom floor a few minutes later.

"You two are Soul Reapers — Shinigami," she said. "You came all the way from the afterlife, a place called Soul Society. In the Soul Society, the Soul Reapers are like the spiritual army. They regulate the spiritual flow of both worlds. The Shinigami force is divided into divisions. Kuchiki Rukia is a low-ranking officer of the Thirteenth Division. She's here on a mission, but it looked like a complicated mission and it was thought she might need help. So the powers that be decided to send a Vice Captain ranking officer from another division along with her, and the Fifth Division Captain volunteered to send his own Vice Captain, Hinamori Momo. You two are on a mission all the way from the Soul Society to vanquish evil spirits in Karakura, Tokyo, thus saving people and regulating the spiritual flow of both worlds."

"You got it!" Hinamori Momo, the girl with the bun and the badge wrapped around her upper arm, said cheerfully.

"Right," Ichigo said dubiously. "You… do realize that sounds like a crock of horse shit, right?"

"How insolent," Kuchiki Rukia, the girl with the violet eyes, dark hair, and pale carved face, said with her eyes narrowed. "You can see ghosts, yet you do not believe in Soul Reapers?"

"I've never seen a Soul Reaper before. And if what you guys are saying is true," Ichigo pointed out, "I'd have seen one of you before this."

"Not necessarily," said Momo. "If your powers are growing as you're getting older… only people of a very strong spiritual level can see Soul Reapers. That especially applies to living people."

"How convenient," Ichigo said. "Look, I accept that you're probably not alive, and I accept there's something strange about you. I don't know how much I buy the rest of it."

Momo stood. "Binding spell, the first," she said. "Sai!" Her tone was calm, her face even, and she waved her hand crisply in the air in one neat movement. Ichigo's arms and legs sprang together and she fell over onto the floor.

"What the hell did you do?!" Ichigo demanded, trying to pull her arms and legs apart — and it didn't work, even though nothing visible was binding them.

"This is called kido — spell-work. Only Soul Reapers can do it," said Momo calmly. "I assume you've never met a ghost who can do that?"

Ichigo stared up at Momo, but Momo did not seem to be threatening Ichigo. She sat down cross-legged on the floor next to her.

"There is far more we can do," she said calmly. "Kido requires exceptional control and intelligence, but it can be used to battle, to surprise, to heal. My kido scores are so advanced that I was actually offered a place on a specific Soul Reaper force called the Kido Corps. I decided to go into the Fifth Division and the main combat forces instead.

"We can also, of course, use our swords — and in ways other than what you would expect. High level Soul Reapers can channel their powers into their sword and discern their sword's name. Each Soul Reaper has a unique sword — or zanpakuto — name, spirit, and spirit world hidden away inside them. When a sword's name is called, it transforms into its true state, and each zanpakuto has a power and form completely unique to its caster. Mine, for example, is called Tobiume. It's a two-pronged sword that can emit fireballs. Rukia, would you like to talk about yours?"

She turned, smiling calmly, to Rukia, who was eyeing Ichigo warily.

"Mine is called Sode no Shirayuki," said Rukia at last. "It is an ice-based blade which goes through different modes of attack known as 'dances.' Thus, people call Sode no Shirayuki dancing ice — the ice that dances."

"It is considered an exceptionally beautiful zanpakuto with great potential," said Momo, smiling. "Rukia may well one day reach my level. Soul Reapers also have sensing and speed abilities, and because they are dead, they age much slower — ten years for every one of yours."

"She still doesn't believe us," said Rukia clinically. "I know the one thing that will convince her." She took out her sword — zanpakuto — and walked up to a ghost Ichigo had not noticed. He was a middle-aged businessman with square glasses lingering unseen in a corner.

Rukia placed the hilt of her sword to his forehead. When it was removed, a glowing stamp had appeared on his forehead. It carried the character for "Release."

"N-no," he pleaded, tears filling his eyes. "I don't want to go to Hell."

"Do not presume," said Rukia, grave and reserved. "What awaits you is not Hell. There is a Hell, but you are not going there. Your destination is the Soul Society. Unlike Hell… you may find rest there."

The ghost of the man dissolved into a glowing blue mist… and then all the mist condensed into a single glowing blue dot. A black butterfly appeared, fluttering and carrying the single blue dot up to the ceiling — straight through the ceiling — and into the beyond.

The ghost that had been in Ichigo's room moments before was now nowhere to be seen.

Rukia turned back to Ichigo. "I sent him to the Soul Society," she said. "I performed a ritual called Konso, the soul burial. I believe you humans call it 'passing on.' It is another of the Soul Reaper's main duties — besides what you so scathingly called 'vanquishing evil spirits.'" Rukia smirked. "See?

"Now she believes us."

-

To Ichigo's annoyance, she stayed bound and pinned to the floor while Rukia and Momo sat and explained in front of her.

"I'll take over, Vice Captain Hinamori," said Rukia stiffly. "Now, human. In this realm, there are two types of souls."

She reached into her kimono pocket — and Momo said kindly, "Perhaps illustrating will be unnecessary, Kuchiki."

"Very well," said Rukia, sounding disappointed. "The first type of soul is called a Whole, or a Plus. This is a normal spirit. The ghosts who have not passed on yet, the things you already know of, are of this type.

"The other type of soul, we call Hollows.

"Hollows attack the living and the dead indiscriminately, and devour their souls. Hollows are what we call the evil spirits. Like with a Soul Reaper, it takes great spiritual presence to even sense a Hollow — which is why you've never seen one before.

"We Soul Reapers have two principle duties. The first is to conduct what we call Wholes or Pluses to the Soul Society by means of Konso. The second is to vaporize Hollows with our zanpakuto. This was our main mission in being sent to Karakura."

"A lot of strange spiritual activity seems to be happening in this specific area," said Momo seriously. "We were sent to investigate why."

"Hang on," said Ichigo. "You don't mean to say there's some Hollow monster hanging around Karakura right now?"

"There is," said Rukia, blinking.

"Are you stupid?!" Ichigo suddenly exploded, and they both jumped. "People could be getting eaten out there! You have to go vaporize it!"

"We were trying to explain things to you," said Momo, sounding affronted.

"Yeah, and I appreciate that, in a weird, freaked-out kind of way," Ichigo admitted. "But… why?"

"An interesting question," Momo admitted, as she and Rukia looked at each other. "We… must admit to being curious. I have never even heard of a living human being able to so much as sense a Soul Reaper before."

"Neither have I," Rukia admitted frankly. "In any case, that was our purpose in coming in here — to search for the Hollow. This is around the last place we sensed it."

"And now?" Ichigo said, staring between them.

"We got close to your house, and it disappeared, effectively," Momo admitted. "Which neither of us has ever seen before. We can no longer sense it."

"You lost its trail?" Ichigo said disbelievingly.

"That is an accurate summary," said Momo. "But I do not understand why. Soul Reapers do not 'lose trails.' We aren't search and rescue animals, and having a spiritual sense is not like having a sense of smell."

"All we know," said Rukia, "is that we got close to your house and — on a sense level, it was like having one's ears, nose, and mouth stuffed with cotton, or having one's eyes shut. Everything just went black — blank. We are trying to understand why."

"And that, to go back to the beginning, was what was around here just a second ago," said Momo. "The Hollow. We can't even hear it, which… worries me. Because Hollows have their own special abilities."

And then it didn't matter. Because _Ichigo_ heard it.

It was a high, howling, blood-curdling, ear-piercing cry — half roar, half scream. And it made a chill go down her spine. She could feel her own eyes widen and her own face pale. "… Momo?" she said in a falsely calm voice. "… Rukia?"

They had not even heard it. They were just sitting there. Conversing with each other in calm voices. They turned to her, nonplussed. "Yes, human?" said Momo. "What is it?"

They stared at her innocently.

There was another howl. "I… I'm hearing what I think it is you're looking for," said Ichigo in a shaky voice, swallowing. "And I hate to break this to you — but it sounds like it's right outside."

There was another cry — this one, for Ichigo, sounding like it was echoing right next to her eardrum. And at last, Momo and Rukia whirled around in alarm. "I hear it!" Rukia hissed.

"So do I," said Momo in a deadly voice, and they both stood. "Is it like that for you, too?"

"Muffled, like I'm hearing it through some unseen filter?" said Rukia seriously. "Yeah. It is."

"Is it like that for you?" Momo demanded, whirling around to Ichigo.

"… No?" Ichigo admitted. "It's like I'm putting my eardrum next to a boom box. Never mind," she added at their puzzled looks. "Music reference. Just trust me, it's loud."

Momo turned to Rukia. "She heard it before us, and she's hearing it better. What the hell is going on?"

Then there was a thundering, shuddering crash from the floor below, and a high-pitched, piercing female scream.

"That was Yuzu," Ichigo breathed, with a feeling like the bottom had just dropped out of her stomach. The Hollow was attacking the house.

-

Momo and Rukia ran for the bedroom door.

"Hey?! Where are you going?! That was the Hollow?!" Ichigo demanded, struggling against her invisible bonds from the floor.

They whirled back to her, faces deadly serious. "Yes!" Rukia barked. "We are going to kill it! Stay here!"

"I can't just _lie_ here!" Ichigo struggled. "That's my family being attacked! Undo your spell _now!"_

"You would only succeed in adding to the body count, you idiot," said Rukia scathingly.

Momo stepped forward. "You are a human and there is nothing you can do!" she said sternly. "You need to learn that, and learn your place —!"

"I… Ichigo… are you okay?!"

Momo and Rukia whirled around and froze. Karin was covered in blood, crawling down the bedroom hallway like a soldier. She couldn't see them — but she appeared in Ichigo's bedroom doorway, saw Ichigo, and slumped over on the floor in relief.

"Karin," Ichigo breathed in a whisper.

"Good," Karin panted. "It hasn't come this way. Look, I don't know what it was, but it happened really fast. Dad's back exploded and he fell. Then it went for me and Yuzu. It was so fast. I had to warn you. I knew I did. I couldn't really see it. I don't think Dad or Yuzu could see it at all, which means it's a spirit — a powerful one — not like anything I've ever seen before.

"Ichi, I know you're good with spirits, and I knew you'd want to help. But you have to trust me. This one last time.

"Ichigo: _Run."_

And then Karin slumped over on the floor, her eyes slid closed, and she was still.

Rukia immediately knelt down and touched fingers to Karin's neck. "Injured," she said. "Unconscious. But alive."

Momo let out a breath of relief and nodded. "I'm not sure what we can do for the father, but it might still have the sister. We might still be able to save the sister."

That was it. Something inside Ichigo — something that had always been held tightly together — snapped.

Rukia looked behind Momo — and stood. _"Shit!"_ she hissed. Momo whirled around.

The human girl was half-standing, glowing gold bonds undulating in and out around her. That alone was awe-inspiring. But her face was set in a snarl of rage, and Momo could see something pushing — pushing against her bonds. Over. And over. And over again. Like a battering ram.

She was lost for words, but Rukia called out in panic, "Stop! No human strength is enough to break the kido! If you force it, your soul will —!"

And then the kido spell snapped.

In a great explosion of golden power, Momo and Rukia were blinded. When the light cleared, Ichigo had already grabbed a baseball bat from beside her bedroom door and gotten right up close to snarl into their faces.

"You can give me all the horse shit you want about how I'm a human, there's nothing I can do, I need to learn that, I need to learn my place," she hissed. "I swear to God, you fucking people. You can't break the kido. You can't fight the Hollow. You need to learn your place.

"Unfortunately for all of you, _assholes,_ I'm not a very good learner.

"Now you two can stand here uselessly, gaping like idiots. But I'm going to go try to save my family."

And she ran past them, down the stairs, and was gone.

At last, Momo spoke. "… I did not make a mistake," she said in a hushed voice. "That was a perfect binding spell. I was offered a place in the Kido Corps."

They stared down the hall after her.

At last, Rukia whispered: "… What _is_ she?"

-

Ichigo ran down the stairs and into the family room. The table was smashed in half, the room in ruins, like some great hand had slashed through the wall, through the family room, and across the place in one swift movement. Dad was lying on the floor, face-down, back oozing blood. Ichigo grabbed her baseball bat and ran into the hole in the family room wall. The Hollow had smashed straight through a hospital clinic wall, straight through a hospital clinic hallway, and through a wall of the family room. The hole reached clear into the darkened, silent suburban street outside.

But none of that was really important. Because looming up in the street, howling, was a Hollow.

It was massive, the height of a house. It had a long, inhuman white humanoid body, covered in grey and black markings. Its face was a spirit mask, white and skull-like with grinning, bared teeth. This one looked kind of like a fish. Its eyes were empty dark holes — a mask with no person behind it. A hole went straight through its chest to the street beyond, but this did not seem to bother it.

The Hollow lifted back its head and screeched to the skies, and the first thing that blasted its way through Ichigo was fear — piercing, white, freezing cold fear. Her body was paralyzed. She was shaking. She couldn't seem to move. And that was really bad. Shit. Shit. _Shit. Move. Come on!_

She kept trying to tell herself that it was just a ghost. Just a ghost. And that didn't seem to help.

Then she saw it. Caught in one of the Hollow's massive, humanoid hands — was Yuzu.

Her face was bloody and there were tears of terror in her eyes. But she was alive. Even mostly unharmed. She looked around and gasped softly, seeing her older sister. "Ichigo…" Ichigo saw her mouth in a whisper.

It was a curious thing, having one's terror wiped away in a frothing wave of unholy, inhuman rage. The next thing Ichigo knew, she was charging straight at the Hollow in the city street, screaming in anger, baseball bat raised like — well, like it actually _was_ a sword. The Hollow swiped one massive hand at her, and she raised the baseball bat up in instinctive defense of her body. The Hollow's hand smashed straight through the baseball bat and pushed her off her feet into the street — but she did end up unharmed at the end. Ichigo rolled, crouched to her feet and then her knees, threw away the remains of the baseball bat, and looked up in dread as the Hollow loomed above her.

It raised its hand to kill her —

And then there was the faint sounds of a kido chant, and part of the raised hand exploded in a burst of fire. The Hollow screamed and Ichigo whirled around. Momo was standing there, hand raised; she had fired the kido spell. Rukia had sprinted forward and leaped up inhumanly high into the air. She cut at the Hollow's remaining arm with her sword, and it dropped Yuzu. Ichigo got to her feet, sprinted forward, reckless and fearless, slid on her feet, and caught Yuzu in her arms right as she fell.

The Hollow retreated, writhing and twisting and howling in pain, and Momo and Rukia leaped to stand, swords raised, in defense of Ichigo and Yuzu.

Ichigo laid Yuzu tenderly on the ground. Yuzu's eyes had slid closed and she remained still. "Yuzu," Ichigo said urgently. "Yuzu, can you hear me?!"

"Relax, they're all still alive," said Rukia. "Even your father."

"We can sense their signatures. If they were dead, you'd see them as spirits — and they'd be standing somewhere, watching all of this," said Momo.

Ichigo looked up, frowning. "I thought you said Hollows attack people to eat their souls," she said. "If this Hollow doesn't want my family — I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're alive. But why is it attacking them?"

"Hollows are drawn to people with high levels of reiatsu — spirit energy," said Rukia cryptically. "The thing that allows you to see Shinigami. The thing we Shinigami use to attack with."

"What does that mean?" Ichigo asked forcefully.

"Neither of us has ever known of a human who can see a Soul Reaper or break a binding spell before," said Rukia. "It takes untold levels of spirit energy. Since you are still alive, it takes levels of spirit energy we have never even heard of before." Rukia and Momo shared a glance, and then looked back behind themselves at Ichigo. Rukia looked serious. And Momo…? Momo looked worried. "We believe," said Rukia, "that the Hollow was looking for you."

Ichigo looked horrified. "… My family is dying… because of me…?" she whispered, wide-eyed.

"That is not what we meant," Rukia said hurriedly, turning back to look at her.

"Yeah, that's not the right way to think about it at all!" said Momo in a hurried attempt at brightness. "Don't worry about it, we can definitely fix this —!"

And then Ichigo looked up and behind them. _"Shit, behind you!"_ she snarled.

And then the Hollow reached its jaws out, and clamped them around the first half of Hinamori Momo's body. It bit, there was a scream, and blood flew everywhere. The Hollow paused — spat Momo back out to the side, badly injured and unconscious — and Rukia raised a hand for a kido spell, crying out the beginnings of a chant —

The Hollow swept her aside with one massive paw, and her head and body hit a far wall with great force. Bloody and injured, she fell to the ground, and was still.

The Hollow ignored both of them, and loomed up in front of Ichigo. Because it didn't want them. It didn't want her sisters. It sure as hell didn't want her father.

It wanted her.

A strange calm came over Ichigo. She stood silently, stepped over her sister's body, blocked her sister's unconscious form — and stood there.

She looked up at the Hollow. "So I guess it's just you and me, huh?" she said thoughtfully.

The Hollow roared.

Ichigo nodded. "My only wish," she said softly, with a sad little smile, "is that I could have put up a good fight. But I guess we'll have to skip that part.

"Hey. Fish-face. I'm what you want, right?"

The Hollow roared. Ichigo supposed that meant yes.

"Well." She smiled sarcastically and spread her hands. "Here I am. Come and get me."

The Hollow paused — as if it, too, could not believe what it was seeing.

"I'm just what you wanted." Ichigo waved her jazz hands wide. "Right here and waiting. Come on, Fish-face, you're missing a golden opportunity here!" And now she was getting angry.

Hinamori Momo was still conscious. She could barely move. Gasping, hemorrhaging blood everywhere, she reached her hand over and brushed Kuchiki Rukia's arm. "Kuchiki," she gasped. _"Kuchiki!"_

"All this bullshit and you won't even attack me!" Ichigo snarled.

_"Kuchiki!"_

Rukia gasped and woke up. She sat up, clutching her bleeding head — and saw it. Ichigo, standing in front of the Hollow, armed opened wide tantalizingly. Suicide move. Self-sacrifice.

Rukia and Momo shared one single final glance, because it was in that moment they understood two things.

First, that this was the kind of fighter this human girl was. Either she fought to protect… or she died.

Second, that this essentially sealed their fate.

 _"Kuchiki!"_ Momo managed out in a gasp.

 _"Hit me!"_ Ichigo was snarling.

The Hollow roared and moved. Rukia got to her feet and ran faster than she ever had in her life. _Get there in time — get there in time —_

Ichigo refused to close her eyes at her end. She kept them wide open, defiant.

So she saw everything in clear definition as Rukia ran in between them, and took the Hollow attack meant for Ichigo.

The Hollow's teeth crunched around the front half of Kuchiki Rukia's whole body. It spat her back out — because she wasn't what it wanted — and retreated again, howling, this time in confusion.

Kuchiki Rukia lay there bleeding out on the pavement, sword loose in her hand. Ichigo stared, pale and wide-eyed between them — Hinamori Momo, and Kuchiki Rukia. Both were still conscious. Both were too weak to fight.

"You're a dumbass," Rukia finally said, and Momo coughed out a weak laugh. "Hollows don't get full, the way we do. It would probably just have tried to eat all of us, anyway."

"Suicide… is never the answer…" Momo puffed out. "You can't help anybody if you're dead."

"Big talk coming from you," said Ichigo, staring. "Aren't we all dead now?"

For some reason, they both smirked. "Don't worry, human," said Rukia. "You may be a dumbass. But we've already decided you're the dumbass we're both going to save."

"Not to put too fine on a point on it, but… how?" said Ichigo, lost.

"Never stops talking, does she?" said Momo with positive cheer, as they both crawled over with effort and leaned against the far wall of the darkened suburban street, clutching their swords.

"Apparently not. To answer your question, human," said Rukia, smiling, "we are going to call on the one fighter with reiatsu who's still uninjured."

Ichigo didn't get it at first.

"And that would be…?" she said, lost.

"You," said Momo, smiling.

"If you stand in between us," Rukia puffed, "and we each pierce you through the heart with our sword — Momo one way, me the other. We can each offer you a quarter of our powers. Together, that would give you half of a Shinigami's ordinary abilities. More than enough to deal with a minor Hollow."

"The powers would be temporary and eventually fade away," said Momo. "And we would still have three-quarters of our abilities. So when our superiors come knocking, it just looks like the mission has knocked us on our ass."

"You can't tell them what you're doing?" said Ichigo.

Momo winced. "It's illegal," she admitted.

"You're… breaking Soul Society law… and you're sure this won't just kill me," said Ichigo slowly. "I'm not saying I'm not willing to do it. I'm just saying, if this crazy ass idea doesn't work, being stabbed double-way in the heart with a set of swords doesn't exactly sound like a fun way to go. And I'd… become a Soul Reaper? Is that even possible?"

"It is, if we transfer some of our powers to you," said Rukia seriously. "You will temporarily have the powers of a Soul Reaper, to give you a chance against the Hollow. You can save your family.

"We are only trying it because your soul is so powerful. But…" They were growing weaker. "In the name of honesty… the chance of success is low. And if we fail… you will die. But there is no other way — nor time to ponder it. The Hollow is recovering."

Ichigo hesitated. Then she heard it.

"Ichigo… Ichigo… Where are you?!"

Ichigo looked around. "Yuzu's having a bad dream," she realized softly, mostly on instinct.

Yuzu's eyes were squeezed shut, but tears were coming out of them and she was trembling in fear, talking in her sleep.

"Don't come… Danger… Run… Ichigo!" she sobbed.

That was when it hit Ichigo, and it changed her entire worldview in ways that were not just physical, but personal, too. Yuzu was, by the Kurosaki family's standards, just some kid. She was the weakest one. She couldn't even see ghosts very well. She had no reason to be brave, and she would never grow up to be anyone spiritually significant.

And Yuzu was crying, shaking in her sleep — from fear. But not for herself.

Yuzu didn't give a shit about herself. Yuzu was afraid for her older sister. Her older sister — who could be doing something. And was standing here. Feeling afraid, and sorry for herself.

"Thank you, Yuzu," she murmured. She turned back around to the Shinigami. "I'm in," she said bluntly, because Ichigo had never been one for flowery speeches. "Go ahead and stick me. Let's try it."

Rukia and Momo smiled, and for the first time warm respect filled their gazes.

"I tell you," said Ichigo fondly, "granted, I haven't met any others. But you are a crazy pair of Shinigami."

Momo and Rukia grinned.

"Takes one to know one," said Rukia playfully. "I'll get to say that to you in a minute."

"I usually like to know the name of the person I attempt to kill," Momo added.

"Wow, I've graduated past Human," Ichigo half-laughed.

"Temporarily, of course," said Momo.

Ichigo actually did laugh that time. "Okay, yeah. Nice to meet you, Hinamori Momo, Kuchiki Rukia. My name is Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo. Let's pray this won't be our last meeting."

The Hollow was charging.

"Ready!" Momo barked, fire filling her eyes.

"Are you ready?" said Rukia in a deadly voice.

Both had lifted their swords. Ichigo took a deep breath, and turned her back on Momo to face Rukia. "Yes," she said.

And honestly? She was terrified. But her voice was steady. That was something.

That, absurdly, was the last thing she thought before the swords went in.

Rukia and Momo watched Ichigo's body quiver and writhe in shock as both swords went through her heart, one from either side. Ichigo's amber-brown eyes went blank. Rukia and Momo offered a sliver of power down each blade.

They were completely unprepared for what followed.

Hinamori Momo and Kuchiki Rukia had both been through what were, objectively, terrifying experiences. But releasing the power locked up inside Kurosaki Ichigo was the single most terrifying thing either of them had ever experienced.

Suddenly, a stream of power shot itself down each blade, and — as if it were a single being with two massive paws — the power inside Ichigo held each fully formed Shinigami down, one-handed. Their power writhed and flailed underneath it as it sucked up more — and more — as they suddenly sensed a cloud of power that followed Ichigo around everywhere she went get vaster — and vaster —

 _"Finally,"_ they heard three female voices hiss all as one great entity.

Then, in an explosion of power, Rukia and Momo were left utterly powerless. Ichigo's soul left her body, and ascended.

If anyone had been around to sense it, the echo of power from the resultant explosion rang out for three full city blocks.

-

The first thing anyone saw was one of the Hollow's arms fly off.

And then Ichigo was standing there, wild orange curls tied up behind her head in the same hair-clip. She was wearing the full garb of a Soul Reaper uniform, and she was standing behind the Hollow where she hadn't been before. A katana sword as large and as long as her body was slung behind her, over her shoulders.

Momo and Rukia crouched there beside her prone physical body, clutching themselves in white under-robes.

"The ripple of reiatsu from her power healed most of my wounds," said Momo at last. "You?"

"Yeah," said Rukia. "Did you lose all of your powers, too?"

"Yeah," Momo whispered.

"Shit."

"No kidding."

"… What _was_ that?" Rukia whispered.

"I'm pretty sure," said Momo, swallowing and staring in genuine fear, "that it was whatever the hell is inside her."

Rukia licked her lips. "I just realized something. Look at that sword. Have you ever seen a rookie's unformed zanpakuto get that big before?"

"No."

"And it changes in response to reiatsu pressure."

"Yeah." Momo's eyes widened. "You're saying —,"

"The thing around her house that was blocking our senses was sitting right in front of us," Rukia whispered.

"But… but that would mean her power was covering an entire _block…_ coating it like a blanket… and she was _alive…"_ Momo whispered in something like horror.

"Yeah," said Rukia grimly. "Exactly."

Ichigo was not feeling any of the disturbance of her fellows. She was actually strangely calm. And she knew, somehow, what to do. She coasted forward on a wave of energy, and chopped off one of the Hollow's legs. It howled in pain, now missing two of its limbs.

"The leg and the arm were for my family," she snapped, "you fish-faced freak!"

And then her massive sword cut down through the Hollow's head in one smooth movement. It dissolved into blue energy, and was gone.

Ichigo looked up at Rukia and Momo — the world spun — and then everything went black.

As she collapsed, sword in hand, the last thing she heard was the two of them crying in alarm, _"Ichigo!"_

But they looked healed. And Ichigo's family was still alive.

And that was what mattered.

Ichigo finally relaxed, and gave herself over to blackness.


	2. The Perils of Thinking

Chapter Two: The Perils of Thinking

Ichigo's dreams were restless. Images of her father and sisters moaning and writhing, covered in blood and missing limbs, screaming for her, were interspersed with the sounds of Momo's and Rukia's voices:

"I'm sorry, you were too late —,"

"Too late —,"

_"Too late —,"_

A hand grabbed her shoulder and she jerked awake, reaching out for —

"Whoa!" Dad, healthy and perfectly fine, grinned, raised his hands in the air, and backed up several steps. "You were having a nightmare. Don't shoot the messenger."

Ichigo was in her bed in her bedroom. Morning sunlight streamed in through the curtains and the blinds. Everything was apparently fine.

"Where are your wounds?" Ichigo said. "How are Karin and Yuzu?"

"Wounds?" Dad frowned, puzzled. "Why? Did we get hurt?"

-

A few minutes later, a surreal-feeling Ichigo was standing in front of the hole in the Kurosaki home. It had been boarded up, and behind her, Dad was saying to her sisters, "What a miracle! A truck crashes into the side of our house and none of us gets hurt!"

"Double miracle, none of us even woke up!" said Yuzu cheerfully. "Breakfast is ready, Ichigo."

"Some miracle," said Karin. "The jerk left us with the repair bills. This family, geez."

"Well, maybe he'll show up to apologize someday," said Dad.

"No, he won't. He'll get arrested."

"I wouldn't arrest him," said Dad with a grinning, Hallmark chuckle.

"I would," said Karin waspishly. "Does he have any idea how much time and money is going to get dumped into this hole?"

"When did my daughter become a better businessman than me?" said Dad as if to himself.

"You guys are gonna be late if you don't hurry up!" Yuzu scolded, bustling back toward the kitchen area.

Ichigo finally had to conclude that she was the only one with memories of last night — and that the Soul Reapers had some sort of triage cleanup service. Momo and Rukia — did they go back to the Soul Society with their remaining powers?

At last, Ichigo decided staring at this damn hole wasn't going to give her any answers and, back in her regular living body, she followed her family back into her childhood home.

The most ironic part? Ichigo was pretty sure, in that moment, that this was the epilogue to the story.

-

Ichigo finally made it to school partway through the latter half of the morning — and she knew just where to go to find her two closest friends.

During break, she called out in a seemingly random hallway, "Tatsuki! Orihime!" Two girls her age turned around — and grinned.

One was tall, thin, and rangy with a spiky pixie cut of black hair. The other was curvy with a round, sweet face and long, caramel-colored hair done back in cutesy kid's barrettes.

"There you are," said the black-haired one.

"How'd your karate tournament go, Tatsuki?" said Ichigo with an open grin.

"You little shit," said Tatsuki with a returning grin. "Everyone at school is talking about the infamous truck crash and wondering whether or not you're _dead."_

"Sorry to disappoint you. We all survived," said Ichigo with a smirk, walking up to the two. "I'm late because I was helping clean up."

"Well, Chad's going to be _frantic,"_ said Tatsuki.

"Why?" Ichigo frowned, puzzled.

"Because he, Keigo, and Mizuiro are really close friends. And they're all friends with you. And Mizuiro was the one who walked by your house this morning and started the school rumor," said Tatsuki, nose wrinkling playfully. "Last time something like this happened, Chad tried to organize a search party."

 _"Chad?"_ said Ichigo disbelievingly.

"Chad," Tatsuki confirmed cheerfully. "You… _are_ aware he's completely in love with you, right?"

"It's not like that," said Ichigo immediately. "It's more complicated than that. You guys don't have the full story."

"I don't know, it looks that simple to me," said Orihime, shrugging. "That's why I sent you that article on the surprising connections between Cancer Suns and Aries Suns. That's what he is, an Aries. And you're a Cancer."

"Geez. You didn't have to do that," said Ichigo in despair. "We don't like each other that way."

"Then… I don't get it, what part of the story don't we have?" said Tatsuki. "Because… you just walked up to us one day in middle school and you were already really close. I never did figure out what happened."

Ichigo was torn. She flashed back instinctively in her mind.

-

"What the hell was that, _Chad?!"_ junior high school aged preteen Ichigo spat out from the top of the hill.

Yasutora Sado lay on the grass of the hill below her. He looked up, playing with a gold coin chain hanging from around his neck, still in his boy's school uniform. He was tall, resplendent, and muscular, with mocha-colored skin and wild, deep brown curls of hair.

"It's Sado," he said. "Yasutora Sado."

"Yeah, well, congratulations, I just gave you a cooler nickname," Ichigo said, walking down the hill to meet him. "Chad. Trust me. Everyone will love it."

"You're a weird girl," he said. "Word on the streets is that you're famous for living there sometimes, taking down whole gangs of guys — and winning. But a girl really shouldn't be getting into street fights like the one I was just in."

"Oh," said Ichigo sarcastically, "because you were doing _so well_ on your own. You're welcome, by the way. Try not to let your dick shrivel up at getting your ass saved by a girl. You were lucky I was there, motherfucker. Those guys back there? They would actually have _killed_ you. You've gotta have the brute strength of an ox! Why didn't you defend yourself? You wouldn't life a damn finger in your own self-defense! And, no offense, but Japan has race issues and you're not from a nice part of town. That's going to happen again."

"… I promised," said Chad, sitting up from his prone position in the grass. "That I'd never use my fists for my own sake. I promised my Abuelo." He had a naturally quiet voice.

"Your ab —," Ichigo made a face, trying to pronounce the word with her Japanese accent.

Chad smiled. "Abuelo. It means grandfather. His name was Oscar Joaquin de la Rosa."

"How many grandfathers are we talking here?" Ichigo joked, her lips quirking as she stared.

"He was Mexican," said Chad.

"But you look part-Japanese. And your name's Japanese," Ichigo noted.

Chad nodded. "Okinawa. Then Mexico. Now here."

"A guy of few words, huh?" said Ichigo. "Well, I'm not going to bail you out next time, Chad! Forget I ever helped you in the first place!"

Chad chuckled, of all things, tucking the coin chain back under his uniform shirt. "I'm sorry we don't go to the same school," he said, sounding amused.

"Yeah, I think they make sure the girls go to the girl's school for middle school and the boys go to the boy's school for the full transformational effect," said Ichigo. "You know, ta-da, I hit puberty! Here are my boobs!" She made a wild wave, and Chad just chuckled and shook his head. Ichigo looked curiously at the hidden coin chain. "That thing around your neck. You always wear it, huh? Is it something important?"

"More important than my life," said Chad simply.

Ichigo waited, but that seemed to be about all Chad was willing to give up. "It looks like a coin from another country or something," Ichigo nudged gently at last. "Where's it from?"

"Mexico," said Chad.

Ichigo was going to make a wild-ass guess it had something to do with this Abuelo. And she was going to guess Abuelo wasn't in the picture anymore.

"We should go." Chad stood suddenly. Ichigo blinked in surprise. "Two teenagers talking by a river are only useful if they end up making out at the end."

"Is that an invitation?" Ichigo grinned. Chad just stared at her expressionlessly. "Geez," she finally despaired. "Okay, okay." Then she stared at Chad's hip area. "Hey, you got a cell phone hanging there," she said suddenly. "Whose is it?"

"Huh? It must belong to one of those guys," said Chad, nonplussed, staring at his hip area.

 _"Shit!"_ Ichigo suddenly swore. She grabbed the cell phone and chucked it as hard as she could into the river at the bottom of the grassy hill.

"I could have given it back," said Chad in surprise.

Ichigo whirled around. "Whoever's on the other end of the line could have been listening to you!" she said urgently. "I swear, you're not going to survive on the streets at all!"

The next day, Ichigo went back to the same spot. She wasn't sure why. It wasn't for sentimental reasons. She just had a bad feeling — especially about that cell phone. She heard voices underneath the river's overpass, and crouched in the shadows of the overpass, listening. When she peered around the corner, she could see Chad tied to a chair, being beaten by gang members, a local small-time gang leader named Yokochini sitting there and grinning as he watched.

"Chad of Mashiba, you're finished," said Yokochini with a wide grin. "You know, I gotta hand it to you. I'd have jumped that girl you were with and gang-raped her in front of you, but you pick good. That bitch scares even _me."_

Chad looked up. Ichigo could see the shadow of it.

"So how does this feel?" said Yokochini. "Does the pain make you want to pee your pants? Huh?"

"People pee their pants from pain?" said Chad. "I'm not feeling the urge. Sorry."

Ichigo smirked despite herself.

"Fine. Then how about this?" Ichigo could see the glint of the coin chain as Yokochini held it up. "I know all about this. That it means a lot to you. It's a souvenir from Mexico, that dirt-infested hole. You value it more than your own life. So if you lose it, you'll die, right? Then die, you sick motherfucker —,"

Ichigo stepped out from behind the overpass wall, neatly through the gang members, and she kicked Yokochini so hard in the face he actually flew back and skidded on the ground. Nearly went into the river. Pity, Ichigo thought. That would have been funny.

She walked right up to Yokochini, stepped hard on his face, and held her foot there while she rooted around in his pockets.

The gang members behind were saying unimportant things like:

"Shit, that's Kurosaki. This isn't going to be a good day."

"As usual, she's ignoring us."

"Thanks for being such a good sport about giving it back," said Ichigo, taking up the gold coin chain first. Then she rooted around further. "Be grateful, Yokochini, this is the closest you'll ever get to a girl willfully feeling up your man parts. Ah, here it is!" She picked out his cell phone and dialed the emergency hotline number. "Yes, hello? I'm going to need an ambulance, please."

"Hey, Kurosaki, you could at least take care of us before you call an ambulance for Chad!" one of the gang members called.

Ichigo turned around. "Yeah, thanks, I'll need an ambulance for —," She began counting gang members. "One, two, three, four, five — Five men, please. Send it to Nishi-Toriya, district two, under the Onose River Bridge. Thanks." And she hung up.

 _"You're dead, Kurosaki!"_ the enraged men roared. Ichigo tossed away the cell phone, smirked, and charged forward. The two forces met.

A few minutes later, Ichigo was pretty beat-up. But she was also the only one still standing and conscious. So she figured that wasn't too bad, all things considered. She walked up to a staring, wide-eyed, tied up Chad and held out his precious coin chain.

Then, to his even greater surprise, she grinned.

"Okay. How about this, Chad?"

"It's Sado."

"Not if you agree to this, it isn't. Here's my offer," said Ichigo. "You won't have to hit people on your own account anymore. But in return, you have to hit people to help me. I'll fight for you, and you'll fight for me. If there's something that you want to protect with your life — I'll protect it with my life, too. Is it a promise?"

Chad's dark eyes gentled. He nodded.

"… Okay. You got it. It's a promise," he said.

"Good!" Ichigo brightened, pleased. "Ichigo and Chad. Has a nice ring to it. Now let's get you untied."

A few minutes later, they were walking the streets, listening to Ichigo's mp3 player, each set of headphones hooked up to the same jack. Ichigo showed him two songs, "You'll miss me when I'm not around" by Grimes and "Trigger" by Hayley Williams. She was dancing around, bopping, and she guessed she must have started singing at some point, because at last Chad said as he watched her:

"You have a nice voice. Low, hoarse, throaty. It's a good singing voice."

"Oh, thanks," said Ichigo sheepishly, grinning and blushing a little. "I know all the words to Trigger. I played it on repeat every day after my Mom died. I don't even know why. The song's about heartbreak and divorce, not about losing someone. I guess it just helped." She shrugged.

Chad nodded. "I started playing bass after my Abuelo died in Mexico," he admitted out of the blue.

Ichigo's eyes were surprisingly kind. "I figured it was something like that," she admitted. "So you play bass? I play guitar."

"You sing and play the guitar?" he said in surprise. "I'm in a local band. We play gigs. You… you want to join us?" Ichigo could tell he was surprising even himself with the suggestion.

Ichigo grinned. "I have a thing about getting too involved with extracurriculars," she half-joked. "Mostly because I have an attitude problem. That's why I have a black belt, but I'll only visit my friend Tatsuki's karate club. But… if you're willing to put up with someone who goes in and out a lot…" She shrugged. "It might be kind of cool to be in a band," she admitted, faux casual.

-

The first gig Ichigo ever played with Chad's band, she was dead nervous. They were at a shitty little after-hours club in Tokyo, and she stood up in front of the mic and sang three numbers: "Play Date" (Melanie Martinez), "Finally/beautiful stranger" (Halsey), and "Kiss With A Fist" (Florence + The Machine). She saved the absolute bopper for last. People cheered all throughout the vocalizing for "beautiful stranger" and by the time she finished "Kiss With A Fist," the whole club was dancing.

At last, a sweaty Ichigo in torn punk black lowered her head from the mic and laughed. "You… you guys have been a great audience," she admitted, and a raucous cheer went up from the more than slightly drunk crowd.

Ichigo looked around behind her shoulder and grinned at Chad, who, for the first time, grinned wide back.

She grabbed the mic, walked over, slung her arm on Chad's shoulder, and said, grinning, "And here's to this fine chunk of manhood, for having the balls to force me up here to do this in the first place. A hand for Yasutora Chad, please!"

One of his band members frowned. "I thought it was Sado."

"It's Chad now," said Ichigo with a smirk.

Everyone looked at Chad — who shrugged.

"It's Chad now," he agreed reasonably, and Ichigo grinned triumphantly.

Everyone ended up late at night in somebody's apartment. And Chad was out of the room for maybe fifteen minutes. Ichigo was surrounded by guys who were much taller and older than she was, maybe a little disreputable. But she was used to that. Gave her a false sense of security.

She forgot she was still a thirteen-year-old girl.

"Hey, Kurosaki. Wanna light up?" One of the guys lit up a joint, gave a puff, and passed it across to her.

Ichigo didn't want to look like a wuss — not after all the effort she'd put on the streets into not looking like a wuss. So she nodded, said, "Sure," and took a puff gamely. She immediately choked and coughed. "Shit, Jesus," she swore, and everybody laughed. She started laughing along with them.

And then Chad came back in. He saw the scene, and a fire lit in his eyes. Ichigo remembered thinking that she had never seen Chad angry like that before.

"Fuck you assholes," he hissed, grabbing Ichigo, slinging her up bridal-style, and carrying her from the apartment.

"Hey — hey, Chad, man, it was a joke —!"

Then the door slammed shut.

"What was that?" said Ichigo as they descended a set of stairs and appeared on a city street. Ichigo knew she was safe — Chad would protect her in the way he wouldn't protect himself.

"And you called me a dumbass, Ichigo," said Chad.

"Hey!" said Ichigo, a little louder than usual. "You're acting like those guys were thinking about pinning me down and having their wicked way with me in there —,"

"Yeah, that's exactly what they were thinking." Chad sighed. "It's my own fault. I don't hang out with great people."

"Why not?" Ichigo asked, yes, definitely loudly. "You should hang out with my friends… I'm getting dizzy."

"Yeah, because that was strong shit. _Strong_ shit. A couple of more big puffs of that, and —," Chad sighed and shook his head. "I may need protection, Ichigo. But so do you. I don't know where your home is, so I'm taking you back to my place."

"Sleep it off on your sofa," Ichigo slurred.

"That's right. And you're calling your family in the morning. And _I'm_ apologizing."

-

Ichigo came back to herself at Karakura High School in the present moment, still frowning.

"It's not like that," she insisted stubbornly. "It's more complicated. And don't get me wrong, I'd be lucky. I mean, Chad volunteers at animal shelters and he has a tattoo. You don't get any better than that as a teenager. But he… I mean, he doesn't…"

Tatsuki and Orihime were still smirking at her, as if she were missing something incredibly obvious.

"Just trust me," Tatsuki sighed. "When you see him this morning, and he seems all frantic and worried? Do this thing. I got this from a girl in my karate class. You sort of lean back against the wall like this. And you move like this so your breasts are on better display. And then you pout a little and look up at 'em from underneath your eyelashes. Like this."

Tatsuki demonstrated.

"He'll fall for it," she swore. "I promise."

"I'm not doing that," said Ichigo scathingly. "It's stupid."

"Now, Tatsuki," said Orihime with a sweet smile. "We shouldn't force Ichigo to do anything she doesn't want to do. Even if it does make her a chicken." And then Orihime walked away innocently.

"Hey — that doesn't — hey!" Ichigo said, surprised and impressed, running after Orihime. "I can't believe I'm going to fall for that."

"You're welcome," said Orihime, examining her nails.

"That wasn't a thank you."

"That's what I heard."

Tatsuki snickered, running up to walk on Ichigo's other side. "If this works, it will be as priceless as that time last month you had to pick a date for a high school event, so you picked legendary lesbian Honsho Chizuru and all the guys were really upset."

"Nice of Chizuru to go along with it," said Ichigo agreeably. "I say this unironically, she was a way better date."

Suddenly, Chad came walking up the hall and all three girls pretended to look casual. Chad looked up at Ichigo — his eyes widened and softened — and, feeling guilty, Ichigo tried it. She leaned against the school wall, moved so that her breasts were on full display, tilted her chin down, looked up underneath her eyelashes, and stuck out her bottom lip just a little bit.

Chad blushed furiously and tripped — actually _tripped._

"Holy _shit,"_ Ichigo hissed instinctively, as Tatsuki and Orihime ducked away to hide their giggles. Ichigo ran up immediately to Chad, feeling bad. "I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

"Yeah, are — are _you_ okay?" he demanded.

"I am. Truck didn't hurt anybody. The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Ichigo smiled. "Let's all just head back to the classroom."

And as she walked away with Tatsuki, Chad, and Orihime, Ichigo did _not_ think about what had just happened. She _didn't._

-

"Ichigo!" Chizuru cried when the four of them walked into the classroom. "One of my pretend girlfriends has lived! Praised be!"

"Mizuiro, stop starting rumors that I've died," said Ichigo, as she took a seat at her usual desk.

"To be fair, I didn't see you, and I am not sorry in the slightest," said Mizuiro shamelessly.

"Mahana helped him spread the rumor," said Michiru, and Mahana grinned, flashing the V for Victory sign. "Ryo was the only one who didn't believe them." She smiled sheepishly.

"Michiru and Mahana think I'm terrifying," said Ryo matter of factly from behind one of her usual books.

"I already thought you were terrifying. You're the only person our age who has the attention span to read actual books instead of fanfiction and doujinshi," said Michiru. "That's like a superpower."

Ichigo smirked as she got out her school supplies. "What period is it?"

"Third, social studies," said Keigo.

"That's Miss Ochi," said Ichigo. "Good. She won't ask annoying questions."

"Hey, hey, forget about that," said Keigo. "Chizuru, back me up on this. I'm trying to convince Mizuiro of something. That girl, Himawari in 3-B. She has a great ass, right?"

"Keigo, I'm not sure that's the compliment you think it is," said Chizuru.

"Of course it's a compliment! Ichigo, what do you think?" said Keigo.

"Keigo, I think one of these days you're going to get yourself arrested," said Ichigo, deadpan without looking up from her books, and a collective snicker went around the group.

"Ha ha," said Keigo. "Laugh it up."

"You know who has a great ass," said Chizuru slyly.

"Oh, no," Orihime sighed.

"Orihime!"

"Oh, no," Orihime repeated.

"And there go all Chizuru's ethics, right out the window," said Tatsuki.

"You missed it all this morning," said Chad cheerfully to Ichigo. "They've calmed down since then."

Ichigo laughed slightly despite herself. She may have weird friends, she thought fondly, but they were pretty cool, anyway.

Then two distinctly familiar female voices spoke up from directly behind Ichigo.

"Hi! Are you —,"

"Kurosaki?"

Ichigo looked up in dread. Turned around. And there they were, standing in living bodies in Karakura High uniforms, beaming politely. Hinamori Momo and Kuchiki Rukia.

"Nice to meet you!" they chorused as one.

"This is Hinamori Momo and Kuchiki Rukia," said Mizuiro. "They started here yesterday. Apparently they're adopted sisters. It was an unusual time to transfer, but their family had to move."

"Ichigo, we don't have any textbooks yet," said Rukia with a sweet smile.

"Would you mind sharing yours with us?" said Momo with an accompanying smile.

Each held out a hand, and on each palm was written an identical message:

_Don't make a scene._

Ichigo looked up. "How about this," she said. "Why don't I show you the school?"

And under the curious stares of her friends, she dragged Rukia and Momo out of the classroom.

-

Ichigo whirled around in an empty courtyard on campus. "What the hell are you two doing here?" she asked urgently.

"What do you mean?" Momo and Rukia shared one of their trademark annoying cautious looks.

"Isn't your work here finished?" said Ichigo. "Why did you infiltrate my classroom? Why haven't you gone back to the Soul Society?"

"We would have to be Soul Reapers to return to the Soul Society." Rukia crossed her arms. "We can't go back."

"We lost all of our powers last night," said Momo, looking worried. "They're all still inside you." Ichigo's eyes widened. "And we can't tell anyone what happened. What we did is illegal, remember? Even my Captain would have to turn us in. So we're stranded here."

"Your body may still look normal, but your soul is a Soul Reaper's," said Rukia. "Lucky you. Not like us. Until our powers return, we have to rely on these gigai."

"Gigai?" said Ichigo, focusing on the smaller and simpler things first.

"A temporary body we Soul Reapers use in times of emergency," said Rukia. "Disempowered Soul Reapers inhabit gigai until their powers return."

"It looks human," Ichigo noted.

"It has to," said Rukia. "We'd be easy prey for Hollows without our powers. So we have to disguise ourselves as humans."

"Well, that explains why my classmates could see you," Ichigo muttered, and then she took a deep breath. "Okay. So? What do a couple of powerless Soul Reapers want with me?"

Rukia and Momo beamed hopefully.

"Until we regain our powers —," Rukia began.

"You get to work around our assigned district of Karakura, doing the work of a Soul Reaper!" Momo finished brightly.

Ichigo stared.

"What's the problem?" said Rukia. "You have the powers of a Soul Reaper now, and we'll help you."

"You'll get to toggle between your normal life and a Soul Reaper's life," Momo added.

"You have no choice, really, this is all your fault," said Rukia informatively. "You can't really turn us down —,"

"No chance in Hell," said Ichigo flatly.

"… What?" said Rukia weakly.

"Why not?!" Momo demanded in alarm. "You were amazing last night! A natural!"

"I fought last night to save my family," said Ichigo quietly with a slight frown.

"So you're saying you wouldn't do that for a relative stranger," said Momo skeptically. "I saw you last night, and I don't buy that."

"You could be a hero!" said Rukia urgently. "A real one!"

And there it was, thought Ichigo. The point.

"Look," she said, pained. "You've got me all wrong." She shook her head. "I'm not the hero of this story. I'm not even really a hero at all. I'm not that girl… I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression last night. But the last time I tried to be a hero? Let's just say it didn't go so hot. Okay?"

Momo and Rukia stared, faces veiled.

"I'm sorry," said Ichigo. "Because you're right. This is my fault. But you're going to have to find someone else who can do what I can do."

And she turned to walk out of the courtyard.

"Well then we have a problem," Momo called after her. "Because I'm starting to suspect no one else can do what you can do. What are we supposed to do then?"

"… Let me handle this," said Rukia suddenly. "I have an idea."

Ichigo turned around just in time to see Rukia slip on a stranger fingerless red glove and run straight at her. Rukia shoved her hand into Ichigo's chest, Ichigo felt a tingling sensation —

And then Ichigo's soul was in her Shinigami form. It was sitting, blinking, beside her unconscious living body.

"That is my body," she said, trying not to panic. "And I am not in it."

"You," said Rukia, and suddenly it was impossible to tell what she was thinking. Ichigo looked up. "Come with me," said Rukia, and she began to walk away.

"Rukia, what are you doing?" Momo murmured as Rukia walked past her.

"Just trust me, Vice Captain, okay?" said Rukia seriously. "There's only one way I can think of.

"One way for us to get her to see how we see her."

-

"… What are we waiting for?" said Ichigo a few minutes later. She was standing beside Rukia and Momo in front of a children's park.

"Just wait," said Rukia. "It won't be long now."

"You said that twenty minutes ago," said Ichigo, and at last Rukia answered.

"Do any ghosts frequent this park?"

"Um." Ichigo blinked. "Actually, one does."

"What is it like?"

"A little boy. About five years old," said Ichigo, wondering why this was relevant. "He likes to play here every afternoon. I think he died of cancer. He likes visiting the favorite places he had when he was alive."

"A friend?" said Rukia.

"We've never even spoken," said Ichigo. "Why all the questions?"

Rukia handed over what looked like a cell phone. Momo looked over Ichigo's shoulder. The cell phone screen readout said, _Yumizawa Children's Park. 20M. 12:00 PM. +- 15 MIN._

Ichigo had no idea what the fuck that meant, but Momo smiled and whispered, "Brilliant."

"What is this?" said Ichigo.

"An order," said Rukia. "From the Soul Society. 12:00 PM, plus or minus fifteen minutes. Within a 20 meter radius of Yumizawa Children's Park. A Hollow will appear. Most likely," said Rukia casually, "it will attack the child."

Suddenly, there was a scream and all three of them whirled around. But it was a spirit's scream. Only they could hear it — or see what followed. A little boy came running around a corner and out into the main area of the park, screaming and crying. A massive spider-looking Hollow, big as a swing set, was chasing him.

Ichigo was at the fencing of the park with her hand on the sword at her back before a single thought went through her head.

"Wait!" Rukia barked.

Ichigo whirled around. "This had better damn well be vitally important to the moment at hand," she hissed.

"But he's a relative stranger," said Rukia. "Are you going to help him?"

"Are you crazy?! You want me to just stand here and do nothing?! _I can't do that!"_ Ichigo shouted.

"EXACTLY!" Momo finally exploded.

Ichigo stared.

"You say you're not a hero?" said Momo. "You don't really have any interest in doing this? Fine. Don't help the kid."

"Before your eyes or out of sight, Ichigo," said Rukia seriously. "If you don't help them, they are going to be attacked and eaten either way."

"I don't know what happened in your past," said Momo intently. "But when you're faced with someone who needs your help, I don't think you can not help them."

The little boy tripped and fell. Ichigo turned around, looking torn.

"Don't help him!" Rukia barked. "Even if you save him now, he'll just be eaten later unless you do our job! You save him just because you happen to be nearby?! That's not how it works!"

"And it's not fair to the souls who don't happen to be nearby," Momo added seriously.

"A Soul Reaper must be fair to all souls!" Rukia recited with a kind of inner fire. "Only saving them when it's convenient won't do! So don't help him — unless you can commit. If you're going to save him, you have to try to save all of them. That's how this works. You must be willing to go anywhere — even to be able to sacrifice yourself for others. That is your duty as a Soul Reaper."

A change seemed to come over Ichigo's face. The Hollow loomed over the child. And then Ichigo jumped forward, unsheathed her massive sword, and cut one of its arms clean off, stepping over the prone form of the little boy.

Rukia's and Momo's shoulders relaxed.

"Ichigo," said Rukia, "have you made your decision?"

"No!" Ichigo barked, whirling around. "I helped him because I was there! What the fuck are you going to do about it?!"

"What?!" said Rukia indignantly.

"She has a good point," said Momo. "What are we going to do about it?"

They stared at each other.

"Look, I get what you're saying," said Ichigo heatedly. "Okay? I do. But I don't buy any bullshit ideology crap that moralizes and rationalizes not saving a dying kid you're standing right in front of! You want me not to save this one, just because in the future I might not be able to save another one?! That's bullshit and you know it. It's standing at the top of some ivory fucking tower, saying you know everything about what's happening to the people below. You think me wanting to save someone is not a good enough reason for saving them?! Do you realize how little sense that makes?!

"And then you try to motivate me — through _duty?_

"Let me ask you this. Remember last night, when Rukia jumped in front of a potentially deadly blow to save me because Momo woke her up in time to do it?! While you were lying on the pavement, dying, was that what you were thinking of? Your duty?"

Momo and Rukia paused. Ichigo's face was twisted in sarcasm.

"You both seem like you've been doing this a long time," she said with a sharp, frigid smile. "So let me ask you this. Have you ever — and I mean ever — watched a Shinigami do something incredibly, stupidly brave, just because of duty? No other reason. No other ulterior motive. They didn't enjoy the fight. They didn't want to test their abilities. They didn't want to use their powers. They didn't have something to prove for their pride, or a family name. They weren't thinking of anyone else. There was no one they admired they were fighting for. Just. Fucking. _Duty._

"Has that ever happened in front of either of you?"

Rukia and Momo were silent in surprise. Because — eerily — she was right. Neither of them had ever seen such a thing. And last night, they hadn't been thinking of duty.

"If I do this, it's because I damn well want to," said Ichigo fiercely. "Duty is no reason to sacrifice yourself for someone. At least —," The Hollow was coming up charging from behind her. Without looking, she snapped her sword back and stuck it right through the Hollow's head. "It isn't for me."

She pulled her sword down through, and the Hollow dissolved in a glow of blue light.

Ichigo kneeled down to the kid. "How would you like for that never to happen again?" she said bluntly.

The kid sat up, nodding, wide-eyed.

"Well then pass on already!" said Ichigo, sounding exasperated. She stuck the hilt of her sword into the kid's forehead, and he slowly dissolved into a glow of blue light.

Rukia and Momo walked up to stand on either side of her.

"… That was an excellent Konso," said Rukia, reserved.

"And a surprisingly effective way of explaining what was going on," said Momo, sounding perplexed. "I can't believe no one's ever thought of that before."

"Look." Ichigo stood, sighed, and turned to them. "I maintain what I said, okay? I'm no hero. I'm not going to like this. And I can't promise I'll always be doing it. What I can promise is that I'll always be honest — and I'll do it for now.

"Because… I know I owe you one." She looked down. "Probably — even more than I understand. And… I repay my debts." She looked up. And then she stuck out her hand. Momo and Rukia reached out — and she smiled and jerked her hand up. "I don't gotta like it," she said, grinning. "I just gotta do it."

Momo and Rukia smiled, despite themselves. They looked at each other, and nodded. They would take that compromise.

"Very well." They each shook Ichigo's hand. "We look forward to watching your finest efforts."


	3. In Groups of Three

Chapter Three: In Groups of Three

Ichigo agreed to be a Soul Reaper on a Friday. That first Saturday off from school, she, Rukia, and Momo had agreed to meet at a local secluded park. For that first weekend, Ichigo would apparently begin what Rukia and Momo called her "Soul Reaper training."

Ichigo showed up in what she always wore outside of school, her usual combination of grunge and punk clothing. Her hair was still pinned up in a hair clip behind her head, and outside of school she loved wearing red lipstick and dangling, eccentric earrings, especially in Autumn complexion themes like yellow gold, turquoise stones, wood, or bone. She always wore a dark, warm, spicy, smoky style of perfume.

Momo showed up to the park in delicate, floral-laden, quietly feminine pieces in soft cream colors. She kept her hair ever in its lacy white bun. Rukia showed up to the park typically in tank tops and loose skirts or tiny shorts, or else in loose, pretty sundresses, usually tied together with a little cardigan sweater over the top half of her petite form.

"Since there were two of us, we had to go shopping," said Momo cheerfully as Ichigo approached them in the park that first Saturday.

"Yeah, you guys look nice," Ichigo admitted curiously. "Have either of you ever dressed like this before?"

"Soul Society is basically a feudal Japanese world, but it takes on modern elements it finds interesting," said Rukia. "That mainly consists of fashion and technology.

"In any case, we should get started."

"So what will I be doing?" said Ichigo curiously.

This time, she was a little more ready for it. Rukia slipped on the red fingerless glove, gave a gentle tingling shove to Ichigo's body, and her Shinigami soul popped out. Rukia laid the unconscious body carefully against a tree off to the side, closing its eyes so it looked asleep. Ichigo was glad she did. Those blank, staring eyes were a bit creepy.

She looked around. They were in a secluded, grassy clearing surrounded by trees. There seemed to be no one around for miles.

"The first thing Rukia recommended we point out," said Momo, "is that technically, you have been fighting Hollows wrong."

"I've done okay up to now," said Ichigo.

"But you've been wasting energy and being inefficient," said Momo crisply. "The essence of Hollow hunting is one clean stroke through the head. This, and only this, is what destroys a Hollow. Unless the Hollow attacks you, any other, extraneous injuries are considered unnecessary."

"I wanted to focus the whole weekend on this," Rukia admitted, "but Momo, who is higher ranked, doesn't think it's possible for any amount of practice to prepare someone for a real Hollow fight."

"Just remind yourself every time — straight through the head," said Momo kindly. "And eventually, it will become second nature to you."

"Okay," said Ichigo slowly and curiously. "So if we won't be doing that… what will we be doing?"

"We will be focusing on what I suspect will be your natural weakest areas," said Momo, "and attacking those right away. Therefore, we will be studying sensing and kido — being aware of your surroundings, and having fine, intelligent control over your powers.

"We will start with sensing. Sit down cross-legged in front of me."

Ichigo did so. Momo sat across from her, and Rukia sat between them off to the side.

"Close your eyes," Momo instructed. Ichigo did so. "The first thing we will be working on is conscious awareness — sensing other signatures when you are trying to. We will move from there into unconscious sensing — being constantly aware.

"So, first, I want you to take your signature and spread it out as far out as you can."

Ichigo thought about this. "You mean the power floating around me?" she said at last.

"Yes," said Momo, "I suppose that would be it."

Ichigo took the power, and sort of tossed it out far around her in a kind of net. She spread it wider and wider, as wide as she possibly could — "Whoa," she said suddenly in delight with her eyes closed, "I think I'm sensing all of Tokyo! Is that okay?"

There was silence. She opened her eyes.

Ichigo was surrounded by countless, hanging strips of white cloth. Each one, she realized, was the signature of a person in Tokyo. "Those three are ours," she realized, pointing at the only three red ribbons — they stuck out — that were anywhere nearby. "They have to be."

"That is true," said Rukia in a low voice, staring. "People with power always have red ribbons. But…"

"What? Did I do something wrong?" said Ichigo.

"That is a Captain-class level conscious sensing ability," said Momo weakly.

"And that's… good…?" said Ichigo hopefully.

Momo and Rukia stared at her.

"It's a good first day," said Momo at last. "I think that's all for now. You can let it go."

Ichigo stopped straining her power and it jumped back into form around her. "Okay," she said expectantly. "What next?"

"Well that was quick," muttered Momo as she got to her feet. "But I suspect this part will not be.

"Now, Ichigo, you are very intelligent. But kido requires more than intelligence. It also requires fine control over one's power. And the more power you have at the beginning, the harder that is going to be. So don't get frustrated if you don't get this right away."

"Okay…" said Ichigo slowly. "If I grow in power, do I have to learn this all over again?"

"No," said Momo firmly. "Once you have it, you have it. That's the only good part.

"Now, stand up." Ichigo did so. "Close your eyes." Ichigo obeyed. "The beginning step for kido is to channel your power inside your body. Let it thrum through you."

"So… that same thing I just used to sense?" Ichigo confirmed.

"That's right," said Momo.

Ichigo took the cloud, the net of power constantly around her and channeled it consciously through her body. She felt her body thrum with power.

"Usually, I would just skip straight to the part where I tell the person to try to make their power into a perfect orb around them. But for you, I'm going to offer a little extra help," said Momo. "Imagine a circle in your mind. Fill the circle with black color, and imagine yourself moving toward the circle. This should help your power create a perfect orb around your body."

Ichigo filled in the black circle — moved in farther, and farther —

"It's stopped," Momo finally said in a hushed voice.

Ichigo opened her eyes.

There was a perfect orb around her, steady and undulating. It was also roughly the size of a house.

"Huh. How big is it supposed to be?" she said thoughtfully.

"Usually it's the size of your body," said Rukia, sounding shocked.

"So I'm an overachiever," said Ichigo.

"Don't sound too pleased," said Momo immediately. "You will now spend the entire rest of the afternoon trying to _make_ it the size of your body."

-

At the end of the afternoon, Momo handed over a packet of paperwork. "These are all the kido chants, spells, and hand movements, and what each one does," she said. "I'll need you to memorize these in your off-time. And keep practicing the orb. Make it as small and as steady as you can.

"Also practice casting the net of your power around you periodically, to sense your surroundings. Eventually it should start to become second nature.

"I think we're all tired, and we should go home."

As they were all walking away, Ichigo back in her human body, Ichigo called after them curiously, "Where is home for you?"

They turned back to stare at her.

"Because we have a spare bedroom at my place." Ichigo shrugged. "And everyone already thinks your supposed family is weird."

"… You'd be willing to do that?" said Momo in surprise.

"We were honestly just going to camp out in your closet," Rukia admitted dryly.

"In my closet? Both of you?" Ichigo scoffed and grinned. "Just come back to my place. Take the spare bedroom."

-

"It's okay that Rukia and Momo are here, right?" said Ichigo to her family, standing in the doorway a short while later. Rukia and Momo stood nervously beside her. "They don't really have anywhere else to go right now."

Rukia and Momo bowed.

"Thank you for allowing us in your home!" they both said formally.

"… I have a fourth and a fifth daughter," Isshin declared emotionally, and he wrapped them both in a warm hug. They looked startled, pausing in surprise.

"Well, that's Dad taken care of," Ichigo sighed. "Check that one off the list. Yuzu, Karin? You okay with us?"

"More badass older women? Are you kidding me?" said Karin. "Of course."

"You'll have to tell me what you like for dinner so I can make it!" said Yuzu cheerfully.

Momo and Rukia looked around themselves in surprise, for the first time a tad uncertain.

-

On Sunday, they went back to the same park.

Ichigo, a Soul Reaper again, told Momo, "I memorized all the spells."

Momo paused. "All of them?"

"Yeah. And I practiced last night."

Ichigo closed her eyes and concentrated. The ribbons appeared around her. Disappeared. The orb appeared around her — and this time it was perfect and steady, the size of her body.

"Ready for the next part," she said, opening her eyes. The orb disappeared.

Momo and Rukia stared at each other. Rukia shrugged, her lips quirked. "She's a fast learner," she admitted.

"Okay," said Momo, considering this. "Very well. Let's test you on the spells — see how much you remember."

A few minutes later, she said in wonder:

"You really memorized all of them, didn't you?"

"I'm smarter than I act," Ichigo joked.

"Okay, let's try you out on a few," said Momo. "We'll practice one of each: One healing spell, one combative spell, and one binding spell."

This did not go as well. A couple of hours later, Rukia was saying, "You know, you're really being too hard on yourself. It wasn't bad."

"My combative spell looked like an aborted firework," said Ichigo in frustration. "My healing spell could barely heal a paper cut, and my binding spell only lasted for thirty seconds! How is that supposed to help me in a battle?"

"You don't have anyone else to compare yourself to," said Momo urgently. "You have no idea how incredible that is for your second day!"

Ichigo was still grumbling to herself.

"Let's move away from kido, and on to sensing," said Momo. "You should keep practicing kido, but to some extent your ability for kido will only get better as you start to use it more in battle. Okay?"

Ichigo sighed. "Okay."

"Now," said Momo, "I want you to use your better control to feed a tiny trickle of power into the air around you. This may take a few tries. Make that trickle your net — and keep it there and steady. All the time. The longer you do this, the better your unconscious sensing abilities will become."

-

As they were walking back across the park, Ichigo back in her human body, Rukia said quickly, "How do you kill a Hollow?"

"One quick stroke right through the head," said Ichigo.

"That's the ticket. Keep telling yourself that," said Rukia. "I would teach you on Konso, but you seem to already have that — which is in itself impressive."

Suddenly, they were broken from their conversation by the surprise appearance of — of all people — Orihime and Tatsuki.

"Hey, we were lookin' for you," came Tatsuki's smiling voice, and Ichigo looked around in surprise.

"Tatsuki. Orihime," she said curiously. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're hanging out tonight," said Tatsuki with a grin. "We feel replaced by your new friends. Wanna come?"

"Oh, yeah, that's totally what you are. Replaced," said Ichigo dryly, and Orihime smiled. "Nah, I can't," she added regretfully. "I've been so busy getting Rukia and Momo settled, I've neglected my schoolwork. I have to study tonight."

"Getting them settled?" said Orihime curiously.

"Yeah. They had a weird family issue, so they're staying at my place. Hence all the quality time together," Ichigo added dryly.

"Well, that was nice of you. Hello, Rukia and Momo!" Orihime called cheerfully, and Tatsuki waved.

"Who the hell are you?" said Rukia bluntly, as Momo stared.

Ichigo stepped close to them and hissed meaningfully, "That's Arisawa Tatsuki and Inoue Orihime. And not only are they my close friends, they're in your class and you already met them on Friday."

"Oh, of course!" said Momo immediately. "Hello, you two!" She beamed beatifically, and she and Rukia — of all things — curtsied. Confused, Tatsuki and Orihime curtsied back — and they looked confused because not only was curtsying a Western cultural phenomenon, it hadn't been in style in over two hundred years.

So much for normal, Ichigo thought.

"What happened to your arm?" said Ichigo suddenly, pointing at the bandage on Orihime's upper arm.

"She was run over last night," said Tatsuki flatly, sounding irritated. "She was crossing the street to get some juice and a car bumped her. Then it drove away. _And she's not even going to file charges."_

"But they didn't hit me on purpose!" Orihime protested.

"Aww, again?" Ichigo despaired.

"Does Orihime get hurt a lot?" said Rukia curiously.

"Almost every day!" said Tatsuki and Ichigo in the exact same overprotective, irritated voice.

"I daydream," said Orihime cheerfully.

Suddenly, Momo nudged Rukia and pointed. There was a distinctive claw-like bruise along Orihime's lower leg. Immediately they bent down to look. Each knew it when they saw it: Hollow markings. An unseen Hollow had grabbed Orihime's leg.

"You look so serious. Are you two okay?" said Orihime curiously. Ichigo and Tatsuki were staring.

"Oh, it just — looks painful," said Rukia with an effort of a smile.

"Super painful," Momo added, nodding forcibly.

"How did you know? My leg hurts worse than my arm!" said Orihime in surprise. "I guess I got that last night when the car hit me, too."

"You're sure you don't want my Dad to take a look at it?" said Ichigo immediately. "He's a doctor; it is his clinic. That's his job."

"Oh, no, I'm okay," said Orihime, smiling and walking away. "Tatsuki and I are having a girl's night, anyway," she added playfully.

"Yeah, and your nerdy ass is going to miss out studying!" Tatsuki added with a grin. She and Orihime left.

"Those girls — are you close?" said Rukia suddenly.

Ichigo turned around.

"What is your relationship like with them?" said Momo urgently.

Ichigo instinctively flashed back.

-

Twelve year old Ichigo was getting ready for school that morning when the clinic front doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" she called, and ran to get the door. She opened it up — and immediately hissed, _"Shit,"_ her eyes widening.

A girl her age was crouched there, a bleeding, broken man on her back. Ichigo could see the blood marks where she had dragged him, on her back, all the way up the street and up the walkway to the clinic's front door. As she panted, there was a haunted look in twelve year old Inoue Orihime's eyes.

"Help," she breathed. "My older brother."

"Dad!" Ichigo called, running for help. "Dad, there's an emergency!"

An hour later, Ichigo was standing in the clinic hallway beside Orihime, who was crouched, crying. Her brother was flatlining in a room with a nurse, Ichigo's Dad was down the hall calling hospitals frantically trying to find someplace to transfer him to, and everything out in the hallway was dead quiet.

At last, Ichigo sat down next to a crying Inoue Orihime, and placed a silent hand on her back.

She watched sadly from the doorway half an hour later as Orihime ran beside the ambulance stretcher into the back of the emergency ambulance with her dying brother. "Please don't leave me! Please don't leave me! You're all I have!" Ichigo heard her sob, right before the ambulance doors closed.

-

In middle school, Ichigo and Tatsuki were walking together across their girl's school campus one day during lunch, and Tatsuki looked up. "What the hell is going on?!" she suddenly spat, horrified. Ichigo looked around in alarm.

A girl with caramel colored hair tied back in little kid's hair barrettes — Inoue Orihime — was lying on the ground, surrounded by a gang of girls. They were kicking her in the stomach, face, head, back, standing above and around her. Orihime was just lying there.

"That's Inoue Orihime," said a girl nearby, looking scared. "She's one of the prettiest girls in school, and I guess this one gang got envious. Last year, at our last school, they held her down and cut all her hair off. That's why it's so short."

Ichigo and Tatsuki looked at each other and their jaws clenched.

They ran over, shoved their way through the knot of girls, and knelt down before Orihime, who was crying without sound. "What the hell was that?" Tatsuki demanded angrily.

"Never just let someone beat the crap out of you," said Ichigo urgently.

Then they stood in front of Orihime and glared around at the group of girls.

"From now on, anyone who wants to pick on Orihime —," Tatsuki began, crossing her arms.

"Is going to have to go through us," said Ichigo with a wide grin.

A while later, Ichigo and Tatsuki were standing beside Orihime in the nurse's office while she was being bandaged up. "You're that girl from the hospital that day, aren't you?" said Ichigo suddenly.

Orihime nodded shyly. She still didn't speak much. That would come later.

"I'm sorry about your brother," said Ichigo with feel.

"I'm alone now," said Orihime simply, with a sad, fragile smile.

Ichigo and Tatsuki looked at each other.

"No, you're not," said Tatsuki, turning back to her. "You have us."

"We've been best friends since we were five," said Ichigo with a grin. "But I guess we could use a third."

"Yeah," said Tatsuki cheerfully. "All the most badass women come in groups of three, right?"

-

In the present, Ichigo wondered how to summarize without revealing too much. "I've known Tatsuki since childhood and Orihime since middle school," she said at last.

"Any family?" said Momo.

"Tatsuki has a big family. But Orihime only had one person. She had an older brother. He died a few years ago," said Ichigo.

Momo and Rukia both seemed to pause at this.

"Why?" said Ichigo with suspicion and curiosity.

"No reason," said Rukia bluntly.

"Let's go home!" said Momo cheerfully.

Slowly, Ichigo followed them — but she suspected she hadn't heard the last of whatever the hell it was that had been.


End file.
